BITLIS or BETLIS, the chief town of a vilayet of the same name in Turkey, situated at an altitude of 4, 7oof t., in the deep, narrow valley of the Bitlis Chai, a tributary of the Tigris. The main part of the town and the bazaars are crowded alongside the stream, while suburbs with scattered houses among orchards and gardens extend up two tributary streams. The houses are massive and well built of a soft volcanic tufa, and with their courtyards and gardens climbing up the hill-sides afford a striking picture. At the junction of two streams in the centre of the town is a fine old castle, partly ruined, which, according to local tradition, occu pies the site of a fortress built by Alexander the Great. It is appar ently an Arab building, as Arabic inscriptions appear on the walls, but as the town stands on the principal highway between the Van plateau and the Mesopotamian plain it must always have been of strategic importance. The bazaars are crowded, covered across with branches in summer, and typical of a Kurdish town. There are some fine old mosques and medresses. Pop. (192 7) 60,527. The climate is healthy and the thermometer rarely falls below o° F, but there is a heavy snowfall and the narrow streets are blocked for some five months in the year.
A good road runs southward, passing after a few miles some large chalybeate and sulphur springs. Roads also lead north to Mush and Erzerum and along the lake to Van. Postal communica tion is through Erzerum with Trebizond. Tobacco of an inferior quality is largely grown, and the chief industry is the weaving of a coarse red cloth. Manna and gum tragacanth are also collected. Fruit is plentiful, and there are many vineyards close by. The Bitlis vilayet includes the Mush plain and the plateau country west of Lake Van, as well as a large extent of wild mountain dis tricts on either side of the central town of Bitlis. The mountains have been little explored, but are believed to be rich in minerals; iron, lead, copper, traces of gold and many mineral springs are •known to exist.